Among the tallest fairy chimneys
Columns of 40 metres and more, held up by basalt caps, among the highest in Cappadocia.
Nevit Dilmen (talk) — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Yildizz.saliha — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nevit Dilmen (talk) — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Nevit Dilmen (talk) — CC BY-SA 3.0
Some of the tallest fairy chimneys in all of Cappadocia stand here: slender columns of soft volcanic tuff, some 40 metres high and more, each kept upright by a cap of hard basalt on its head while wind and rain spent millennia carving away everything around it. One look at the resulting shapes explains both the name and the stifled laughter in every tour group that reaches the rim. Officially it is Bağlıdere; everyone calls it Love Valley, and one local legend of two lovers from feuding families, ending with God raining stones on the village, gets retold on the tours. The rocks, not the story, are why people come. The valley belongs to Göreme National Park and has no fence and no ticket. You see it one of three ways. From a balloon at sunrise, since most flights drift over it when the weather allows and it is one of the best sights of the whole ride. From the roadside viewpoint off the Göreme–Avanos road, a few minutes' drive from Göreme, with its cafés, swings, wooden hearts for photos and souvenir stalls, which is what most visitors do. Or on foot along the valley floor, a roughly five-kilometre trail between Örencik on the Uçhisar road and the Göreme–Avanos road, mostly flat, an hour and a half to two hours, with no facilities of any kind along the way. Light is everything. Just after sunrise and in the hour before sunset the columns turn gold and pink; an August midday is white, blinding and shadeless, and the heat of the Anatolian plateau makes the floor walk a slog, so stick to the platform then, and carry water whatever the season. In winter snow settles on the basalt caps and the view is finer still, but the trail turns to slippery mud. Afternoons belong to the ATV and horseback tours that cross the valley daily, bringing dust and engine noise with them. For families: the viewpoint is easy for everyone, pushchairs and grandparents included, and half an hour is enough. The trail suits children old enough for a long walk, not buggies. And if the name and the shapes are awkward in front of the young ones, know that guides never skip the joke, and that plenty of conservative visitors settle for the panorama from the road and leave perfectly satisfied.
Columns of 40 metres and more, held up by basalt caps, among the highest in Cappadocia.
Most flights drift over the valley when the weather allows, one of the finest moments of the ride.
In the hour before sunset the columns glow gold and pink, cafés at your back.
Viewpoint off the Göreme–Avanos (Çavuşin) road, Göreme, Nevşehir
For most families the platform is enough: you get the whole view from above, and the floor walk adds little unless you enjoy walking among the rocks, and it is punishing in summer heat. If you do walk, go early morning, before the heat and before the ATV tours.
Yes, if you are in Cappadocia anyway: snow on the basalt caps makes the view from the platform even better. Skip the trail though, it turns to slippery mud, and balloon flights are often cancelled by wind.
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